Second post

Thanks for your comments on the last post. I like hearing from ya. JD, yeah you should start one, and MJ I know you like to write... I could see you starting one as well. It's nice to be able to write about whatever you want.

KN, yes it feels good to finally have a plan, even though I still have doubts from time to time. I think it was you who was talking about what to choose for a career versus what should be kept as a hobby, and you probably didn't know, but that actually helped me quite a bit!

Doubts and second-guessing seem to be part of my nature, and I'll probably have them no matter what I choose as a career. I've never had that one thing that stood out as "Aha, that's my calling" but there are a lot of different things that I find interesting and would like to do. It was difficult to choose one thing because I thought it meant I would have to leave everything else behind. But then I realized I can still do most things I want to (with a few exceptions - I don't think "surgery" or "curing AIDS" would work well as hobbies), I just can't necessarily get paid or get recognition for all of them. So I decided to go into nutrition partly because it's flexible enough for the other important things in my life, and, of course, for many other reasons.

At first, I became interested in nutrition because of all the different diets, like atkins, south beach, etc., as well as the different detox methods such as master cleanse and saltwater. I wanted to know what they did and which ones were the best. I did some reading into it and found that there are a lot of differing opinions. I was more confused than when I started! There is some evidence that the atkins diet is effective in weight-loss, but some nutritionists think it might be unhealthy to eat a diet high in protein and fat and low in carbs, some veggies, and some fruit. It is supposed to starve the body of carbohydrates, and thus the fat stores get broken down and converted to energy. Many people have lost weight using the diet, but some nutritionists think the weight-loss is due to how restrictive the diet is, that people on it simply don't eat as many calories. It certainly is good to elminate many of the refined carbohydrates that are out there, since they get converted to fat when they are in excess of the body's needs. Another positive of the diet is that it promotes exercise, unlike some of the other "magic pill" diets out there. I think part of the reason there is still a controversy over this and other diets is that they work for some people and not others. Plus, there are so many environmental factors that contribute to a person's health that it is hard to say definitively that the diet was responsible for the problem. (Some of this I got from my "Understanding Nutrition" textbook and I know WebMD has some good info.)

Overall, from what I've read, it is much easier to prevent weight-gain than get rid of it. Fat is not used up as readily as it is stored, and it seems to me the best way to get rid of it is to reduce the number of empty calories like fats and refined carbohydrates while still eating nutrient-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

I know weight-loss can be a sensitive subject, and I hope I didn't come across too preachy. I just wanted to explain what I've read about the topic. One thing I definitely understand is that everybody is different, and has their own weight/diet/exercise issues.

Well, I wrote more than I was planning to and should probably get on with my day.

I Started a Blog

I never thought I would start a blog, but here it is! The purpose of this blog is to keep people updated on what is going on in my life and to discuss things I've been reading or thinking about lately. I'm planning to update at least a couple times a week, but it might be more or less depending on how busy I am.

For those who don't know, I'm a 24-year-old living in Saint Paul, MN. I have an interest in food and nutrition but for now I work in two research labs in the University of Minnesota medical school: one with group B streptococcus and the other with streptococcus pneumoniae.

In the group B strep lab, we do serotyping (testing to see which sugars and proteins are on the surface of the bacteria), DNA fingerprinting (separation of DNA fragments to see which strains are related), and opsonophagocytic assays (to see how well different components of the human immune system destroy the bacteria). Early this week I submitted my first manuscript to the "European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases" and am waiting to hear back from them. If it gets accepted, this will be my first publication!

I am still training in the streptococcus pneumoniae (a.k.a. pneumococcus) lab, where I will be testing patient serum samples for pneumococcal antibody levels.

I will be working in these labs until the end of August, when I plan to go back to school for nutrition. I applied both to the master's program and as a transfer undergraduate in case I don't get into the master's program right away. On Wednesday I got an email saying I "meet the requirements for admission to the master's program" but now they need to pass my file around to different faculty members to see if anyone has an opening in their lab and is willing to advise me. If I don't get in this year, I will start taking the courses needed for a certification in dietetics, which can be taken as undergraduate courses.

I've also been trying to exercise more, but with the weather being cold again, it's hard to get motivated to do anything. I've got to be more diligent though, because I'm planning to run the Mpls 5K at the end of May, and would like to improve upon the time I got at the TC 5K back in October.

So it looks like I'll be doing a lot of waiting in the next month or two - to hear about the master's program, the undergraduate program, and the manuscript. I'm done with all the hard work and now it's out of my hands. This is one of the few periods of time where I have nothing important to do when I get home from work. I'm used to always having something - like homework, studying or filling out applications - that could be done. I try to read and study on my own but it's different knowing there's no deadline. It's nice having the extra time, but I do feel a bit lazy.

Ok, I think that's enough for one post! I'll try to write again this weekend.